Trump lawyer asked Qatar for $1m for access to president

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani insisted Trump disclosed the repayments to Cohen in this year's report out of "an abundance of caution".

In an accompanying letter to the Justice Department, the head of the U.S. government ethics office, David Apol, questioned why Trump did not mention the repayment in his 2017 financial disclosure report.

Contradicting the footnote, the US Office of Government Ethics notified the Justice Department that the payment "meets the disclosure requirements for a reportable liability under the Ethics in Government Act". That would make it a campaign expense - an illegal one because it wasn't made with campaign contributions or disclosed on campaign financial reports.

If the revelations are forthcoming, it would only add to the problems facing Trump and his personal attorney Cohen.

Al-Rumaihi told Cohen that Qatar expected to invest in Trump plans to solicit investment in a US infrastructure program, the Postreported. "I mean, there were very few people who knew the people that were being placed in a lot of jobs".

However, investigators have now obtained emails that reportedly show Cohen continued working on the project until May 2016 - not too long before Trump became the Republican presidential nominee.

A liberal-leaning watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed a complaint in March requesting an investigation into the payment and whether Trump broke the law by failing to disclose it past year.

However, the US US Office of Government Ethics did not elaborate on the goal or the recipient of the payment. "The information related to the payment made by Mr. Cohen is required to be reported", the officials said.

Shaub, who served as the ethics czar during President Barack Obama's second term, noted that Apol's letter to Rosenstein is tantamount to a "criminal referral". "Mr. Cohen sought reimbursement of those expenses and Mr. Trump fully reimbursed Mr. Cohen in 2017".

"My client was not alone as it relates to these payments", Avenatti said.

The deputy attorney general is overseeing the Department of Justice investigation into whether Trump aides colluded with alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 United States presidential election.

The document is being closely watched by ethics experts to see whether it discloses the $130,000 paid to porn star Stormy Daniels on his behalf by his attorney Michael Cohen.

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